Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two
1 After this the Lord appointed
1seventy-two others and
2sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.
2
3And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
4Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
3
Go your way;
5behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.
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6Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and
7greet no one on the road.
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Whatever house you enter, first say,
8‘Peace be to this house! ’
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And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not,
9it will return to you.
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And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for
10the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house.
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Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you.
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Heal the sick in it and say to them,
11‘The kingdom of God has come near to you. ’
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But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say,
11
12‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that
13the kingdom of God has come near. ’
12
I tell you,
14it will be more bearable on
15that day for Sodom than for that town.
Woe to Unrepentant Cities
13 16“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in
17Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
14
18But it will be more bearable in the judgment for
19Tyre and Sidon than for you.
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And you, Capernaum,
20will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to
21Hades.
16
22“The one who hears you hears me, and
23the one who rejects you rejects me, and
24the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me. ”
The Return of the Seventy-Two
17 25The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord,
26even the demons are subject to us in your name! ”
18
And he said to them,
27“I saw Satan
28fall like lightning from heaven.
19
Behold, I have given you authority
29to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of
30the enemy, and
31nothing shall hurt you.
20
32Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that
33your names are written in heaven. ”
Jesus Rejoices in the Father’s Will
21 34In that same hour
35he rejoiced
36in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father,
37Lord of heaven and earth, that
38you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and
39revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for
40such was your gracious will.
22
41All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is
42except the Father, or who the Father is
43except the Son and anyone
44to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. ”
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Then turning to the disciples he said privately,
45“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!
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For I tell you
46that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. ”